Local and global aspects of interaction processes in poetic metaphor

Abstract

This paper argues for the necessity of a textual (i.e. global) rather than a merely syntactical (i.e. local) analysis of interaction processes in poetic metaphor (i.e. metaphorical expressions within poetic texts). It is maintained that metaphorical language in poetic texts is typically characterized by a high degree of detailed specification not accounted for in interaction views of metaphor dealing with local considerations only in an identification and interpretation of isolated metaphorical sentences. Its textual specificity rather than its syntactic incompatibility ultimately determines the interpretation (and to a lesser extent the identification) of any metaphorical expression within a poetic text. In order to capture the complex nature of interaction in poetic metaphor, current terminology is redefined, local interpretative procedures modified and extended and global interaction strategies developed. Both local interpretitive procedures and global interaction strategies, then, direct the complex interactional processes of, for instance, the global interaction between various types of textually specified tenors and vehicles and their modifying focus-expressions. It follows then that any local metaphorical unit may only be textually clarified in a global consideration of its relation to other local metaphorical expressions in the poetic text.